54 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



out of condition, and a horse in condition, certainly 

 bears more resemblance to himself than a horse- 

 chestnut does to a chestnut horse, but he is assuredly 

 a very different-looking animal in one state to what 

 he is in the other. In persona, if I may be allowed 

 the expression, he is the same — in re, quite another 

 being : in the one state, he is comparatively weak 

 and powerless — in the other, equal to greater exertion 

 of power and speed combined than any other animal 

 which the hand of nature has formed. It has lately 

 been the fashion to put the powers of man in com- 

 petition with those of a horse, on a journey. Clad in 

 a flannel jacket and trousers, he may travel over as 

 much or more ground in a week than a horse ; but 

 put a proportionate weight upon his back, and see 

 where he would be ! Surely the well-attested fact of 

 Mr Highwayman Nicks' ride to York must set this 

 matter at rest ! ^ 



The period is now arrived when the condition of 

 hunters is put to the test. Previous to the month of 

 November no man who has anything else to amuse 

 himself with, or who has a regard for his neck, or his 

 horse, should be seen by a covert-side unless it be 

 on a hack cub-hunting, which after all is but a 



^ In 1696, Nicks, a noted highwayman, robbed a gentleman at 

 Gad's Hill, in Kent, about four in the morning ; but, apprehending 

 that he was known to the person he had robbed, made for Gravesend, 

 where he lost an hour in waiting for the ferry-boat, yet, by crossing 

 the country to Huntingdon, and then keeping to the northern road, 

 he reached York, and appeared on the bowling-green in the evening 

 as he proved upon his trial for this robbery. The Jury acquitted 

 him, thinking it impossible he could be at two places so greatly 

 distant between sun and sun. 



